by Jon Savage
The definitive book on punk rock, the Sex Pistols and what the
hell it all meant.
Reviewed by: Michelle Miller Detwiler
About Michelle Miller Detwiler
"England's Dreaming," by Jon Savage, is an exhaustive book about the history
of punk rock. Written in 1992, shortly after grunge's ascent on the music
industry, "England's Dreaming" chronicles the very beginnings of the punk
genre, as well as its demise at the end of the 1970s'.
Savage interviewed dozens of people, researched hundreds of recordings and
dug up nearly everything that ever was written, recorded, said or done about
punk rock music. If there was a person alive who visited Malcolm McLaren's
legendary Sex shop, caught the Sex Pistols perform in a dive bar in London,
or the Ramones at CBGBs in New York, he was interviewed for this book. No
amount of praise can describe just how invaluable this tome is as a resource
for understanding so many different genres of music - as varied as
industrial, gothic, techno, ska, hip hop and even nu metal - that are so
popular now. Punk paved the way for experimentation, and served as a backlash
to the so-called "establishment" and the formulated music of the 1970s, which
had, by that time, been far removed from the innovators of rock 'n' roll
music.
Not just the amount of work that went into writing this mammoth and extremely
significant work of literature is impressive. There are never-before seen
pictures of the bands, their fans and groupies (as well as darling photos of
both McLaren and Johnny "Rotten" Lydon as young boys), drawings,
reproductions of handbills, and an incredibly comprehensive discography in
the back of the book. Other books have been written on the bands themselves -
the Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Ramones - but none have so much as touched
the comprehensiveness of this. If you really want to know about punk - real
punk - read this book; it may take a few months to get through, but it will
be well worth it.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: England's Dreaming
Copyright © by Michelle Miller Detwiler, 2002
Reviewed by Michelle Miller Detwiler:
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